RICS is rapidly losing the confidence of both the public and professionals — not because of external attacks, but because of its own inaction. The organisation that was supposed to be the gold standard in surveying is now being questioned more than ever before. And the most alarming part is this: people no longer trust RICS to regulate RICS-accredited surveyors. That is an institutional death sentence in slow motion.
The trouble began escalating in 2021 when serious financial governance failures were exposed to the public. Estate Agent Today broke the story — alleging opaque payments and questionable consultancy fees being pushed through without transparency. Then, Bridgehouse Consulting released “Notes on a Scandal” — a detailed breakdown of how internal governance at RICS had become dangerously dysfunctional. It wasn’t a one-off slip. It looked systemic.
But even worse than the financial embarrassment is the growing sense that RICS cannot enforce basic ethical standards among its own members. A case reported by The Negotiator showed a senior RICS surveyor being openly condemned by a judge in court for unreliable expert evidence. A scandal like that should have been met with immediate discipline. Instead — silence. The message was clear: there is no meaningful accountability.
This ties into a deeply concerning development — the misuse of RICS credentials. Inside Housing confirmed that RICS itself had to issue a warning to its members about misrepresenting their status or authority to clients. In plain English — surveyors are abusing the brand to gain trust they may not deserve, and the institution responsible for their oversight has been too slow to act.
Then came the accusation that sums up the entire problem: RICS is stalling instead of regulating. As reported by Estates Gazette, the organisation was accused of dragging its feet on a commission inquiry — failing to act with urgency or transparency when public trust depended on it. Every time RICS delays action, the public sees it as protectionism — not professionalism.
Once trust in a regulator is lost, the people do not wait. They create their own watchdogs.
That’s exactly why shepherdsucks.co.uk. They are not random acts of hostility — they are reactions to institutional failure. They exist because homeowners no longer believe RICS will independently hold bad surveyors accountable. These sites are not simply complaints — they are warnings to future victims.
And here is the uncomfortable reality RICS must confront immediately:
If it does not fix itself — visibly, aggressively, and urgently — then the next wave of exposé websites will not just target the surveyors.
They will target RICS itself.
And when that happens, the institution won’t be questioned.
It will be finished.